Energy Intelligence (EI) - An Introduction

Energy Intelligence (EI) is an intuitive business intelligence and analytics module that provides you with the capability to interact with your energy data. You can perform multi-dimensional analysis to provide meaningful “Energy Intelligence” that supports energy management decisions and strategy.

There are over 30 datasets, covering 300+ data fields available in Sigma EI and in this guide we will summarise this information, helping you to build the reports and visualisations you need. The description and language used is aligned with Sigma and how your energy estate is setup using the objects within the system (e.g. Sites, Accounts, Meters, Channels etc.).

EI has the concept of Views and Categories which contain the data that you need to create your reports. Pre-defined reports are available in each of the available Views so you can interact with your energy data out-of-the-box. You can also build your own reports and visualisations with the self-serve reporting tools.

The EI hierarchy is summarised in the infographic below. More information will be provided on each of these items in the subsequent sections.

Data Enrichment

A key feature of EI is the automated data enrichment it gives you out-of-the-box, enabling you to get greater insights into your energy data with minimal effort and without having to perform manual data loads and manipulation.

The following list highlights this core enrichment:

Degree Days

This data will be maintained within EI, using a base temperature of 15.5oC

The Degree Day Region is determined by using the Site postcode to look up the region against the UK Degree Day reporting regions.

Regional Degree Day Actuals – enabling year on year comparisons
Standard Degree Day Data - enabling comparison of weather-corrected energy consumption figures of comparable buildings in different regions
20 Year Average Degree Day Data - to enable budget setting and benchmarking

Consumption Normalisation

Your energy consumption can be normalised against the following Site metrics:

Heated floor area
Floor area
Population
Occupancy

Allowing you to easily assess, visualise and report over site performance on a like-for-like basis, without having to manipulate your data.

Emissions Data

EI automatically loads the following government emission factors:

CO2
CO2e
N2O
CH4

They are sourced from the GOV.UK website, and calculates emission data based on your consumption across your energy portfolio.

Consumption Data

The Consumption data that has been loaded for a Channel that includes Periodic, Non-periodic and Account (for bills) channels. Channels with the following Channel Data Types will be included:

Consumption
Consumption by Mass
Energy Consumption
Volumetric Consumption
Volume

Note: Gaps in consumption will not be filled, unless using the Best Available Data Reports and the Estimation Techniques are switched on

Consumption Data Unit Conversion

It is likely that you load energy data into Sigma using different units (e.g. mWh, kWh, m3 etc.)

For each commodity, Sigma EI will automatically convert your data into a common unit, as listed below, to enable like-for-like reporting across your portfolio.

Electricity – kWh
Gas – kWh
Water - m3
Waste – tonne
Diesel – l
Heat – kWh
Oil – l
Propane – kg
Steam – kg
Other - no conversion applied, will remain in its native unit

Time Fields

The fields in this category relate to the view that is being used. Where one of these fields is used in a report, it will relate to specific dates as follows:

Bill View – Bill Read (End) Date
Consumption Views – Consumption Date
High Frequency Periodic Data View -
Bill Queries View – Query Raised Date
Bill Validation View – Validation Run Date

e.g. If the Formatted Date (Month Name) is used in a report based on the Bill View, the dates returned will refer to Bills that have a Bill Read Date in that Month

The following Times can be selected when creating a Report:

Date
Formatted Date (Year)
Formatted Date (Month Name)
Formatted Date (Week of Year)
Calendar Year
Calendar Quarter
Month
Week Number
Day
Fiscal Year
Fiscal Quarter Number
Fiscal Month Number
Fiscal Week Number
Fiscal Day Number
Day Number
Day Short Name
Month and Year
Month Name and Year
Month Short Name
Month Number
Fiscal 4-4-5 Quarter
Fiscal 5-4-4 Quarter
Fiscal 5-4-4 Month Number
Fiscal 4-4-5 Month Number
First Day of Month
UK Bank Holiday
Weekday or Weekend
UK Bank Holiday Name
Last Day of Month

Data Fields

Each field contained within a category is defined as a Dimension or a Metric which identifies how it can be used in analysis and reports.

A Dimension can also be a Date or Geography field.

Each type of field serves a different purpose as detailed in the table below:

Field Type	Type	Icon	Description
Dimension	D	Yellow square	Retrieves the data that will provide the basis for analysis in a report. Typically text or date fields e.g. Site Name
Metric	M	Blue circle	Retrieves numeric data that is the result of pre-defined calculations on data in the database e.g. gross amount of a Bill
Date	DT	Yellow square or calendar	Date fields are either recognised as date, datetime, or timestamps in the database, or are text/metric fields that have been converted.
Geography	G	Yellow or blue geo	Geography fields
Pre-Defined Filter	F	Green funnel	Pre-defined filter values

Available Views and Categories

Nine pre-defined Sigma Views and six Tenant Billing Views have been created on top of the Sigma database to expose the key groups of data.

Sigma Views

View	Description	Data Availability*
Bills - Charges	The bills that have been loaded into Sigma, including individual charge lines, bill tags, batches and associated to all Sigma Items
Bills - Daily Consumption	Enriched daily consumption generated from bill totals, normalised to common units per account commodity and associated to all Sigma Items
Bills - Queries	All queries raised against bills within Sigma and associated to all Sigma Items
Bills - Validation	The validation results for bills in Sigma and associated to all Sigma Items
Estate - Best Available Consumption - click for more details	The best available consumption for a supply point combined with independent Consumption Data Channels For Supply Point Consumption: - Data is sourced from meters, Bills and Supplier statements - Data is prioritised, and estimated according to flexible config - Data is converted to common unit of measurement, per commodity - Data is filled using “Missing Data Imputation” Machine Learning - Data is forecasted to current date - Data Enriched with Emissions, Associated data and degree days Data is also sourced from 'Consumption Data' channels nested under Organisation, Site Group or Site Items	5 years
Estate - Structure	All Sigma item types available for reporting	5 years
Estate - Supply Point Configuration	Provides access to Sigma items that relate to Supply Points
Meters - Daily Consumption	Enriched daily consumption data loaded in Sigma against both non-periodic and periodic channels, normalised to common units per commodity and associated to all Sigma Items
Meters - Data Monitoring Notifications	Data Monitoring Strategies and the Notifications that have been created for each Strategy
Meters - High Frequency Consumption	High frequency data loaded from periodic channels	14 months
Monitoring Points - Daily Consumption***	Enriched daily consumption and cost data from Monitoring Points in Sigma (Only those that are held under Sites and Building Units)	5 years
Monitoring Points – High Frequency Consumption***	HH consumption and cost data from Monitoring Points in Sigma (Only those that are held under Sites and Building Units)	5 years

*Note: The Data Availability column defines the maximum age of the data which will be available in Energy Intelligence.

**Note: The Views use outer joins to join the entities to each other.

*** Note: Restricted access

Sigma Categories

View Categories	Bills - Charges	Bills - Daily Consumption	Bills - Queries	*Bills - Validation*	Estate - Best Available Consumption	Estate - Structure	Estate -Supply Point Configuration	*Meters - Daily Consumption*	Meters -Data Monitoring Notifications	Meters - High Frequency Consumption	Monitoring Points - Daily Consumption	Monitoring Points - HH Consumption
Account	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Account Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bill	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bill Charge	Y
Bill Cost Centre	Y	Y
Bill Tag	Y
Building Unit						Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Building Unit Property						Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bulk Bill Batch	Y	Y	Y	Y
Bulk Bill Batch Property	Y	Y	Y	Y
Channel					Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Channel HF Data										Y
Channel Property					Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Consumption/Consumption & Emissions		Y			Y			Y			Y
Consumption Data Channel					Y
Contract	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Contract Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Cost Centre						Y
Meter	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Meter Property	Y		Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Monitoring Point											Y	Y
Monitoring Point Property											Y	Y
Monitoring Point Issues											Y	Y
Monitoring Point Items											Y	Y
Monitoring Strategy									Y
Notifications									Y
Organisation	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Organisation Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Provider	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y
Query			Y
Site	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Group	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Group Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Supply Point	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Supply Point Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Time	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Time of Day (Periodic Channel Data Datetime)										Y		Y
Validation Result				Y

Sigma Best Available Consumption View

The best available consumption will pick the best consumption to use based on the hierarchy that has been set globally or within an individual Supply Point.

Click here for more information.

Available Sigma Categories

Once you are in a view, a number of categories will be available. These categories group the data fields contained in the views in a meaningful and business friendly manner, aligned with how information is seen and managed across Sigma. This grouping facilitates you being able to quickly access the data you need.

For example, in the Account category, you will see data items associated to an account such as Account Number, Account Commodity and Account Meter Number etc.

Category	Description
Account	All the utility billing accounts that have been created in Sigma
Account Property	All the properties that have been defined and associated to an Account in Sigma (Note - Only accounts linked to sites are available.)
Bill	Details of all the EDI and Manual bills that have been entered into Sigma (Note - Tenant Bills are not shown)
Bill Charge	The Bill charge data entered into Sigma. A row is returned for each charge on a Bill.
Bill Cost Centre	The applicable apportionment factors for each effective Cost Centre defined for the bill. (Note - If a single Cost Centre has a split factor during the period of a bill, a weighted average will be calculated based on the number* of days in the bill period that each individual factor is applicable.)
Building Unit	Details of building units defined in Sigma (Note - Only building units linked to sites are available)
Bill Tag	The Bill Tags used in a Sigma Bill. Each item of information within a Bill is stored as a 'Bill Tag' for the type of Bill e.g. the Bill Tags in an electricity bill will differ from those in a gas bill. They can be used to provide information about a particular value in a bill. A row is returned for each Bill Tag populated in a Bill.
Building Unit Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a Building Unit within Sigma
Bulk Bill Batch	The batches of bills that have been loaded into Sigma
Bulk Bill Batch Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a bulk bill batch within Sigma
Consumption / Consumption & Emissions (Best Available View only)	The Consumption data that has been loaded for a Channel that includes Periodic, Non-periodic and Account (for bills) channels. Only Channels with the following Channel Data Types will be included: Consumption, Consumption By Mass, Energy Consumption, Volumetric Consumption and Volume The emission conversion factors e.g. Cons CO2 are sourced from the GOV.UK website ‘Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting’ or custom values if they have been entered
Consumption Data Channel	The consumption or emissions data that has been loaded for a Consumption Data Channel
Channel	The periodic or non-periodic channels that exist in Sigma and are associated with a meter. The channel holds the data coming from the meter
Channel HF Data	Periodic channel raw data at the granularity and units as loaded into Sigma. For example, Half Hourly consumption data
Channel Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a channel within Sigma
Contract	The Contracts that have been loaded into Sigma
Contract Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a contract within Sigma
Cost Centre	The Cost Centres defined for an Account, to facilitate apportionment of bills, as required for accounting purposes
Meter	The Meters that have been defined in Sigma (Note - Sub meters are included, but virtual meters are excluded)
Meter Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a Meter within Sigma
Monitoring Strategy	The Monitoring Strategies that exist in the Data Monitoring Activity
Notifications	The Notifications created for each Monitoring Strategy
Organisation	The details of each Organisation defined in Sigma
Organisation Property	The User defined properties that are associated to an Organisation within Sigma
Provider	The Providers that have been defined in Sigma – these usually represent utility supplier, data aggregators, meter operators and data collectors
Query	The queries that have been raised in Sigma against an Account
Site	The sites that have been defined in Sigma. These represent the physical location of a property
Site Group	The site groups that have been created in Sigma in order to group individual sites together
Site Group Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a site group within Sigma
Site Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a site within Sigma
Site	The sites that have been defined in Sigma. These represent the physical location of a property
Site Group	The site groups that have been created in Sigma in order to group individual sites together
Site Group Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a site group within Sigma
Site Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a site within Sigma
Supply Point	The supply points that have been defined in Sigma – i.e. the MPAN (electricity) or MPR (gas)
Supply Point Property	The User defined properties that are associated to a supply point within Sigma
Time	A number of different time related options (e.g. month, year etc.) to help consolidate your data into periods of time
Time of Day (Periodic Channel Data Datetime)	A set of fields to identify the time of day that data represents. Only available in the Sigma High Frequency Periodic Data view
Validation Result	The results that have been created as a result of performing bill validation within Sigma

Tenant Billing Views

View	Description	Data Availability
Tenant Billing - Bill Consumption (IDR)^3*	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. Daily consumption generated from bill totals, and associated to all Sigma Items	5 years
Tenant Billing - Bill Queries	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. All queries raised against Tenant bills within Sigma and associated to all Sigma Items	5 years
Tenant Billing - Bill Validation	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. The validation results for Tenant bills in Sigma and associated to all Sigma Items	5 years
Tenant Billing – Bills and Charges (IDR)³	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. The Tenant bill charges that have been created by Sigma and associated to all Sigma Items	5 years
Tenant Billing - Meter Consumption	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. Enriched daily consumption data loaded in Sigma against both non-periodic and periodic channels, normalised to common units per commodity and associated to all Sigma Items	5 years
Tenant Billing - Supply Point Configuration (IDR)³	Useful for Tenant Billing Customers only. Provides access to Tenant billing Sigma items that relate to Supply Points	5 years

*in Day Refresh

Data available within these Views can be refreshed manually from within Sigma

To start building a report in Sigma EI, go to the main navigation bar on the left hand side, click Create > Report, select one of the nine Views and start using the drag and drop tool to build your data.

The data category access matrix below details of the categories available in each of the views.

Tenant Billing Categories

View Categories	Tenant Billing - Bill Consumption (IDR)^3*	Tenant Billing - Bill Queries	Tenant Billing - Bill Validation	Tenant Billing – Bills and Charges (IDR)³	Tenant Billing - Meter Consumption	Tenant Billing - Supply Point Configuration (IDR)³
Building Unit	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Building Unit Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Channel						Y
Channel Property						Y
Consumption	Y				Y
Contract	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Contract Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Meter				Y	Y	Y
Meter Property				Y	Y	Y
Organisation	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Organisation Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Query		Y
Site	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Group	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Site Group Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Supply Point	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Supply Point Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tariff						Y
Tariff Entry						Y
Tariff Cost Definition Entry						Y
Tenant	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant Account	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant Account Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant AdHoc Charge						Y
Tenant Bill	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant Bill Charge				Y
Tenant Bill Cost Centre	Y			Y
Tenant Billing Group	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant Property	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Tenant Provider	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Time	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Validation Result			Y

Available Sigma Tenant Billing Categories

Additional Tenant Billing Categories

Category	Description
Tariff	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tariff within Sigma
Tariff Entry	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tariff Entry within Sigma
Tariff Cost Definition Entry	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tariff Entry within Sigma
Tenant	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tenant within Sigma
Tenant Property	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tenant within Sigma
Tenant Account	The Accounts defined within Sigma. A row is returned for each Tenant Account in the system. Only Accounts that are directly linked under a Supply Point are included
Tenant Account Property	The User defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tenant Account within Sigma
Tenant Ad hoc Charge	The user defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tenant Ad hoc Charge within Sigma.
Tenant Bill	The Tenant Bills entered into Sigma. A row is returned for each bill where the source is Tenant Bill.
Tenant Bill Charge	The charges calculated for a Tenant Bill
Tenant Bill Cost Centre	The applicable factor for each applicable Cost Centre defined for an Account that a bill is for. A row is returned for each Cost Centre associated to the Account associated to a Bill where the Cost Centre effective from date is on or before the Bill Read (End) Date. If a single Cost Centre has a split factor during the period of the bill, a weighted average will be calculated based on the number of days during the bill each individual factor is applicable.
Tenant Billing Group	The user defined properties that can be assigned to and populated for a Tenant Billing Group within Sigma.
Tenant Provider	The Providers defined in Sigma. A row is returned for each Tenant Provider in the system

Browser not supported